Revenge by Blood
by Tigress of the Moon
Summary: The death of his family has caused Tamahome great grief. Rvenge haunts his every thought. When Amiboshi appears, his ideas fall into place, and Miaka is accidentally drawn into the situation. The only solution now is Revenge by blood.
1. Part 1: Revenge is Sweet

Revenge by Blood  
  
*Disclaimer: I don't own FY...the manga, not the Anime..This story is based on actual events that happened, but are horribly twisted to become...well..You'll see. Not for those with weak stomachs...Oh, and another warning...You know how me and my sis Star Wolf said to never let us write a fanfic together?...Well, this is one of them! Enjoy! ;)*  
  
  
  
He'll pay..he'll pay dearly for my beloved twin's death...He'll pay with his family's life...Maybe then he'll realize just how much it hurts to loose those you hold the closest to you...He deserves to suffer for all the pain and torment he's made me go through...It's time he understood loss...  
  
It had been a long, agony-filled time since he had last set his eyes upon his beloved family, but now he was over joyed. He would be able to bring his family on the journey they were to set out upon with the Suzaku no Miko. He was so elated that he almost started skipping down the path that led from Konan to his small village bordered by forest. Unfortunately, Miaka was too busy packing and getting ready for the long journey ahead of them to barely even notice Tamahome's absence, never mind follow him to his home.  
  
Absent-mindedly, Tamahome walked into his house, his beloved home, with a smile on his face, only to be greeted by an ever widening pool of blood on the floor. He lost his footing as he rushed into the room, sliding across the floor in the large pool of crimson liquid, all of it from the flow of his own family's veins. In the center of the room he saw Suboshi, flinging around one of the most deadly of weapons, and the most deadly in his hands, the ryuuseisui.  
  
"Tamahome!" he heard his youngest sister, Jie-Lain, cry out as the weapon met her throat, sending her head flying off her body with a spray of blood so powerful that it drenched Tamahome's shirt and covered the walls in the dripping red that told only of pain-filled death.  
  
Tamahome stood in the center of the carnage, stunned, not able to believe what his eyes showed him, what his heart wished not to be true. His sisters, his brothers...even his sick, already dying father, murdered viciously by the hands of the enemy, now stained with their blood. One of his poor brothers still twitched from his broken and mangled position on the floor, each movement pushing out a new spray of blood that coated the already crimson stained room.  
  
He fell to his knees, bringing his hands up to his face thinking that maybe, just maybe, when he pulled his hands away that the mangled mess that was his family would vanish to the deepest depths of him forever, but the image did not leave, it stayed there as if to taunt him and cause him even more pain and suffering. Even when he looked down at his own self the carnage could still be noticed, for he was covered in their blood, and the smell of their severed flesh would not leave his nostrils.  
  
All he could see in his mind was the scene play in his head over and over again. Over and over. Slowly driving him mad. His sister, his beloved little sister Jie-Lain...He loved her even more than Miaka...He had raised her since she was the tiniest infant, since his mother had died those not so many years ago...He had no one now, his entire family was gone...And he couldn't help but thinking if he had arrived a few precious minutes earlier...If he had walked just a little faster on the trail...He could've prevented this, and the deaths of the people he cared about the most never would've happened.  
  
When he finally got to his feet, and the sudden shock of the image began to fade, all he could hear was laughter. Suboshi, the murder of all he had ever cared about, stood before him laughing like a hyena, as if this entire situation was just the funniest thing that he had ever set eyes upon. And to Tamahome's severest disbelief, he went over to his Jie-Lain's body and dipped his fingers into the blood that had yet to cease spreading over the floor...and then licked his fingers...  
  
"As you took away my twin brother, the only person, the only family I had left, I took what family you had away from you." Suboshi laughed as he looked down at the greif stricken Tamahome. "Revenge fulfiled..Finally I have avenged my beloved brother's murder...Ah, the sweet tast of revenge," Suboshi said, as he licked yet another one of his fingers. "Finally, little brother, you may rest in peace.." With that Suboshi turned around and walked over to the door and then out it, leaving a trail of bloody foot prints behind him before he vanished into the forest beyond.  
  
All Tamahome could do was stare at what was left of his family...his home. The scenes still played over and over again in his mind...Jie-Lain dying..her blood splattering all over him..the walls..and the floor..His twitching second youngest brother before his body finally calmed, and the blood stopped spurting...Tamahome shook the thoughts from his head and the saddness and greif was then filled with uncontrollable anger...sheer black rage.  
  
I wish that Amiboshi's death iwasn't/i an accident. That I had killed him even ihalf/i as painfully,i half i/as mercilessly as Suboshi brutally murdered my family. An old, dying man...and four, innocent children who couldn't even defend themselves...What kind of person iis/i he?! Tamahome could feel something in the back of his mind snap...Something broke from all the pressure, and from that moment on he iknew/i that from that day foreward he would find isomeway/i to let Suboshi itruly/i feel the way he did. Suboshi couldn't possibly understand the emptiness, the loneliness, the huge hole that was left in the place that his loving family had filled. And now all that occupied that area was a huge void, like part of him had been ripped out and he could never get that piece back.  
  
Tamahome, still reeking of his family's spilt blood, carried each of his brothers, sisters, and father over to the are where it had been designated long before as their family's burial ground. His outfit, once mainly a pastel blue, was a crimson shade by the time he had buried his two younger sisters, two younger brothers, and his old, ill-stricken father.  
  
He then trudged over to the river that ran by his village to wash his blood soaked hands and arms, when he saw something that had been swept onto the riverbank.  
  
"What is that?" Tamahome said outloud to himself. It's probably just a log that drifted down from upstream, but...  
  
When he got closer he realized just how wrong he was.  
  
"No way...it's-it's a body..and.." He flipped it over, and fell backwards when he saw who it was.  
  
"It's-It's Amiboshi? But how did he?!" And when he placed his hand above the boy's mouth he realized that he was still alive; he was still breathing.  
  
Suddenly a thought struck him. The perfect revenge...I could nurse Amiboshi back to health, present him to Suboshi, and then... Amiboshi coughed and his eyelids fluttered.  
  
Tamahome quickly gathered up the young boy and ran into the forest, resting him against a tree after he was sure that they were at least a mile from any type of civilization.  
  
This time Amiboshi's eye's fluttered and then opened...  
  
"Hmmm?...Wha-What's going on?" Amiboshi asked confusedly, looking around at the canopy overhead, the trees to every side of him...and Tamahome sitting next to him. Amiboshi backed up in sudden fear, but then realized that he could bearly move.  
  
"Hey, take it easily," Tamahome said as gently as he could, when he really wanted to drive a dagger right through his heart, twisting it as he plunged it deep into Amiboshi's chest...But cold-hearted revenge seemed like so much more fun.  
  
Tamahome looked at him and realized that not only was his left leg broken, but his right arm was broken also. Tamahome started to rip some of the cloth of his cloak into long strips and he grabbed a couple of nearby, sturdy sticks.  
  
"What are you..?!" Amiboshi asked, startled, as Tamahome gently grasped his left leg.  
  
"Brace yourself," Tamahome said, right before he set Amiboshi's leg. He had to surpress a smile as Amiboshi's entire body shuddered in the wave of pain that setting his severely broken bone had caused. Amiboshi held back tears as he braced for the setting of his right arm. This wound wasn't as bad, to Tamahome's disappointment, but he set it, except with a little more force and pressure than that was nessecary. Amiboshi shuddered again and this time Tamahome had to look downward to hide the smile that spread across his face.  
  
"Relax," Tamahome told him as kindly as his rage and hate-filled heart would let him. "The rest of your wounds are only minor cuts and abrasions."  
  
Amiboshi let out a sigh and Tamahome fought back a frown. Too bad his wounds weren't worse. Oh well, in good time he'll suffer more pain than he'll think imaginable...  
  
"W-wh-why are you being so kind to me, Tamahome. You know that I'm not one of the Suzaku Seishi and I ruined the summoning of Suzaku by pretending to be Chiriko."  
  
Tamahome felt the anger from what Amiboshi had done bubble up inside of him, but it was soon calmed by the cooling, cold thoughts af the sweet revenge he would reek on Suboshi.  
  
Tamahome mustered up a smile and looked Amiboshi right in the eyes. "Hey, we were friends before that, weren't we. I can tell that you're sorry for what you've done, so I forgive you. Besides, you're pretty badly injured and I just couldn't leave you on the river bank to die, you never would've survived if I hadn't intervined."  
  
Amiboshi almost started to cry. He forgives me for what I did to him and the others? And now he saves my life? Nakago is wrong about the Suzaku Seishi, they are kind-hearted and we shouldn't be fighting them...I wish I could be on their side but I'm doomed to support Seiryu and all of the heart-ache that will come with it. Fate has put me in the hands of the Suzaku Seishi yet again, even after I tried to commit suicide to bring peace between the to sides, I end up at the same place I left off. A single tear slipped down his cheek and Tamahome almost fell over.  
  
He's crying?! Whoa, I guess this whole "I'm your friend now, so don't worry," thing is really working...And just think how much it will hurt both of them when...  
  
"Where are we anyhow?" Amiboshi asked curiously as he looked to every side of him, and then up at the forest canopy.  
  
"We're in a forest a few miles from my village. Why?" You're not going anywhere  
  
"Just curious...What are we going to do know, anyway?"  
  
"Well...You need to recoperate, so you probably shouldn't move for awhile...At least two months, considering you have two broken bones."  
  
"Yeah...I guess you're right...But I'm going to stay in the middle of the forest?"  
  
"I could build you something to stay in...Give me a day."  
  
"Okay," Amiboshi said, nodding his head in reply. As he nodded his head he accidently took a brief glance at his clothes and noticed that they were soaked with blood...Fresh blood, not his blood, which had dried a couple hours ago...And even then most of his was washed away into the river...So how couple he be covered in blood. When he looked up he realized that Tamahome was covered in fresh blood too.  
  
"Tamahome?" he said as he wiped some of the blood of the front of his shirt. "Why are we covered in blood?" Amiboshi saw Tamahome's eyes glaze over as he looked inward and saw the horrible death scenes play over and over again in his mind. Then he snapped back to reality.  
  
"My family...," he mumbled. "My entire family is dead. This is their blood that covers me, as well as you, since I carried you here almost right after witnessing thier horrible murders. If I hadn't sone to rinse their blood off my hands and arms, than I would've never found you." Amiboshi flinched with shock.  
  
"What? Are you serious?! Wh-Why...How...Who would do something as horrible as that?!" And poor Tamahome...having to witness the entire thing, and then be soaked by his dying family's blood. It makes me sick to think that somebody could be heartless enough to do something like that.  
  
"Someone who misunderstood something that happened to himself. He couldn't take the own pain he was going through, so he took it out on me and my family." Tamahome looked up from the patch of dirt he had been staring at and looked straight into Amiboshi's eyes. Amiboshi could see the tears that now filled Tamahome's eyes. "Will you help me seek revenge on him, Amiboshi? We're friends, right? So will you help me? I want him to feel all the pain that he made me feel, the emptiness that now fills my being..."  
  
He saved my life as a result of his family's death...I at least owe him that much...to help him avenge his family's deaths...Even though I don't want to even be alive... "Yes..I'll help you. Anyone who killed someone's entire family in cold blood deserves to have the same done to him."  
  
A large grin spread across Tamahome's face. "Thank you Amiboshi. You have no idea how much this means to me." Tamahome laughed inside his head as he forced a fake tear to trickle down his cheek. This is too perfect!...Amiboshi agrees to help me get revenge...on his own twin bother! Oh man, if he only knew! How great!  
  
Amiboshi could've sworn that he saw a glimpse of happiness in the depths of Tamhome's eyes...a flicker of something other than pain and anger, but Amiboshi dismissed it as nothing, and went on talking like nothing had ever happened.  
  
Six weeks later Amiboshi was almost completely healed and Tamahome helped him to remove the splints they had put on his arm and leg. There was only one problem. Because he hadn't used his right arm or left leg for the past month and a half, he could barely stand and his right arm hung limply at his side.  
  
"You're almost going to have to learn how to walk again...And you'll definately need to do a lot of exercises with your arm to get it back to the place where it was at before you broke it."  
  
Amiboshi nodded his head in solemn agreement. Damn. I thought that once the bones were healed I would be as healthy as I was before...But I'm not even half as strong...I feel like a helpless child.  
  
Tamahome came back from behind some trees carrying a long stick, he then threw it at Amiboshi. He caught it with a surprised look on his face. "You'll have to rest your weight on this for a while before you're leg's back to its original strength. Once that's done we can start working on our training."  
  
"T-training?" asked Amiboshi, startled.  
  
"Yeah, training. You agreed to help me avenge my family's deaths remember? In order to do that we have to at least train a little bit."  
  
"Yeah. I guess you're right," Amiboshi said, shrugging his shoulders. "But...how?"  
  
Tamahome dragged out a large leather bag out from behind the tree closest to him.  
  
"With these." He emptied the bag out at Amiboshi's feet. What now lay in front of him was a half-way decent sized pile of weapons: swords, daggers, knifes...all sorts of devices that caould be used to kill the opponent.  
  
Amiboshi picked up one that had rolled near his left hand. A dagger. He unsheathed it and took in its deadly beauty as some of the sun that cut through the canopy over head glinted on the sharpest edge of the blade. "Where did you get all of this?" Amiboshi asked, amazed at the large pile of weapons and their startlingly good quality.  
  
" I have a lot of connections...to say the very least."  
  
Amiboshi could almost sense the thirst for blood coming from Tamahome as he picked up the most slender sword, unsheathed it, took in the beauty of the newly polished, shimmering blade, and then swiftly swung the sword behind himself, without warning, nearly cutting the tree behind him in half.  
  
Tamahome gave a smile that Amiboshi couldn't tell if it was of sheer madness, or just of the enjoyment of seeing such good quality weapons.  
  
Tamahome, realized that he had slipped just the slightest bit in revealing his hidden insanity, quickly regained his posture and delicately slipped the sword out of the severed bark of the tree.  
  
"As soon as you're healed," Tamahome said as he resheathed the sword. "You and I will train...It'll probably only be for about a month, but that's all the time we need. After all, we don't want to master the skill of killing...we just want to tfind a couple of ways that will make our opponent suffer dearly before he passes from this world.  
  
Amiboshi nodded in agrement. No matter how cruel it sounded, the same had been done to Tamahome's family and the pain Tamahome no beared needed to be felt by their murder as well. Amiboshi reshealthed his dagger as well and laid it on top of the others at the pile by his feet.  
  
"You rest up and regain your strength in those weakened limbs..I'm going to go off to a clearing not far from here to train." Tamahome picked up some random daggers and swords and started to head off into the forest.  
  
When Amiboshi could no longer see him he scrambled painfully to his feet and started walking around the forest, trying desperately to regain some of the strength back in his almost useless leg.  
  
A few times he tripped in fell and painfully regained a standing position from his place in the dirt. Once the day was over he had aquired quite a few new abrasions and bruises, but his leg was far more stronger from the effort and his arm had grown stronger too from his effort to lift himself out of the dirt repeatedly.  
  
After two weeks had passed he had regained near full strength in both once weakened limbs. Once sure of this he fished a sword and a dagger out of the leather bag and went over to the small clearing to train with Tamahome.  
  
"Tamahome!" he called out as he walked into the clearing.  
  
Tamahome lost his concentration and missed the tree he had been practicing throuwing his favorite dagger at. He turned around just in time to catch the stick that wa being flund at him, full force, at his face. He looked at the stick, wondering why Amiboshi had thrown it at him and then realized that this was the same stick Amiboshi had been using as a cane for the two previous weeks. When he looked up he saw Amiboshi standing on the edge of the feild. He was standing tall and proud and Tamahome could see as well as almost sense that Amiboshi was almost completely recovered. He smiled and then beckoned Amiboshi to come over to him with his hand.  
  
Amiboshi came running over and looked up at Tamahome when he was about three feet away.  
  
"I'm glad to see that you've finally regained your strength," said Tamahome said with a smile, that Amiboshi thought was of happiness for him being well, not happiness that his revenge would come soon.  
  
"Does this mean that I can finally start training with you?" Amiboshi said, the hunger for fighting present in his eyes.  
  
"Yes," said Tamahome, as he picked up and unsheathed the sword that lay at his feet. Amiboshi did the same with the one in his hand. Both tossed the sheaths aside and Amiboshi flung his dagger away towards a tree in the woods, hitting it dead center with surprising accuracy. Tamahome smiled and took up a fighting stance, as did Amiboshi.  
  
Then, without warning, Tamahome attacked, and without mercy. Amiboshi couldn't believe the furocity that Tamahome attacked with, barely giving him any time to breath before he had to block another blow, each one just in time to protect some vital organ or favored appendage.  
  
Amiboshi barely had any time to even attempt a strike at Tamahome the attacks came so quickly. Finally, Amiboshi took a quick strike at Tamahome and just barely cut through the fabric covering his arm, while Tamahome had already inflicted some serious damage to his pupil.  
  
Amiboshi had several minor cuts on his face, one even across his nose, a few across his arms and legs and one that cut through the fabric of his shirt right above his heart.  
  
"Let's take a break," Tamahome finally said. It had seemed like they had been fighting for hours to Amiboshi and he was just about ready to collapse when Tamahome finally uttered the words that would bring about relief.  
  
They trained like this for a month, almost non-stop physical combat. To the untrained eye it would even seem like they had been friends, considering that's what Amiboshi thought, but Tamahome's thoughts and feelings were on a much different level. All Tamahome had thought about was getting revenge, that was how he lived and breathed each day. After all, what did he really have to live for other than that? Sure, there was Miaka, but she wouldn't be staying in this world for too much longer anyway. He had given up on friends and lovers since his family had died. He never wanted to love or befriend another person again, which is why he kept Amiboshi at a distance, even though Amiboshi didn't sense it.  
  
Amiboshi thought they had at the very least became friends, figuring Tamahome had forgiven him for ruining the summoning of Suzaku, as he had said he had done just months before. Amiboshi saw him as a sensei, too, considering all the fighting the both had endured against one another and just how much Tamahome had taught him in a mere month. Little did he know the thoughts that ruled Tamahome's mind during both hour of sleep and wake.  
  
When they had almost killed each other, they knew that it was time they set out to find the murderer. They both had gotten so well that the last time they dueled Amiboshi was left with a long, deep gash down his left arm and Tamahome was left with a scar down his right eye.  
  
"We definately should stop our training," said Tamahome as he flopped down on the blood tainted grass. Amiboshi stood glancing down at Tamahome, he himself so ragged looking that he seemed to be sweating blood, before he too took a seat in the waist high grass.  
  
"Yeah, it seems that we just can't get any better than this," Amiboshi said to Tamahome as he wiped some blood away before it dripped into his eye again.  
  
"Unless we kill each other," Tamahome said with a laugh, when just too much of the statement held the truth. Amiboshi showed a faint smile and then fell back into a laying position in the grass.  
  
"So what do we do now?" Amiboshi asked, watching the white, fluffy clouds pass them by overhead.  
  
Tamahome looked down at Amiboshi and a sinister smile crept across his face, hiden, luckily, from Amiboshi. "Why don't you try and sense your brother's chi?" Amiboshi sat up with a start.  
  
"What? Why would I want to do that?" Amiboshi asked, startled.  
  
"You at least deserve this one joy, the joy of having a family, that I will never get to have again. You should get to see him for a while first...Then we'll take care of my family's murderer."  
  
Amiboshi's eyes began to water and a few stray tears slipped down his cheeks. He quickly brushed the tears off his face before he thought Tamahome would notice...but he did.  
  
Aw...He's crying..., Tamahome said sarcastically to himself. Too bad he won't be feeling emotions much longer. "Hey, Amiboshi. It's okay. It's not as painful for me as it was when they first died.." It's much worse. Tamahome managed a weary smile and then looked back down at the grass. He ripped a piece out of the ground and stuck it in his mouth, nawing gently on the end.  
  
Amiboshi sat up, looked at Tamahome and then closed his eyes. Tamahome could tell that he was searching for the exact location of his brother by sensing his chi.  
  
"He's...he's in Qu-Dong ," said Amiboshi, right before he opened his eyes, sheer joy present in them. He hadn't seen is brother in soo long since he had been pretending to be a Suzaku Seishi for quite a while, and now he would finally get to see him again.  
  
Tamahome gave a smile that seemed to show his happiness for Amiboshi, but his cold, dark eyes told another story. "Good. Now that we know where he is, what do you think about leaving tomorrow?"  
  
"Sounds good," said Amiboshi with a quick nod of his head. "But how are we going to get there?"  
  
"We'll walk. It should only take us a day or so," said Tamahome. Or at least that's what you'll see it as. "Right now we might as well get some sleep. Even though it's only late afternoon, if you're as exhausted as I am, you probably won't mind an earlier retirement today?"  
  
"Not at all," said Amiboshi as he pretended to cover up a humongous yawn and then fall over in the grass, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep while sitting up. He then sat back up and starting laughing. Tamahome laughed for a few brief moments himself before he pulled himself up off the grass and trudged over to the nearest tree to lean against and take a snooze. Amiboshi went to the other side of the field and fell asleep in a patch of shaded grass.  
  
He woke up four or five hours later to be greeted by a velvet black-blue sky covered in pin-pricks of bright white stars. He looked over and saw that Tamahome wasn't at the tree he was at earlier, but he did see a fire glowing and smoke rising from somewhere to his left, so he went back to sleep while staring at the clear, starry night sky.  
  
The next time he woke up Tamahome was leaning over him shaking his shoulders.  
  
"Come on Amiboshi. We have to start now or we'll never make it there by tomorrow morning."  
  
Amiboshi yawned, then got up and stretched. He noticed that dawn had just broke because a few stars were still present at the zenith of the sky. Amiboshi noticed that Tamahome didn't have the bag of weapons with him, just a sword at his back and his favorite dagger strapped to his side. He looked at the ground next to him and he noticed his favorite dagger and sword as well. Bending down, he picked them up, flung the sword over his back and tucked the dagger into his belt, and then looked up at Tamahome.  
  
"Do you know what direction Qu-Dong is in Amiboshi?" asked Tamahome.  
  
Amiboshi quickly searched for his brother's chi by entering deeply into himself and looking for the signiture waves of energy that could be none- other than his beloved twin's. He opened his eyes to find Tamahome looking at him curiously, waiting for an answer. "To the northeast of where we are now."  
  
"Does your twin know where you are?" asked Tamahome.  
  
"I don't know. He probably thinks I'm dead so he either hasn't noticed my chi, or chosen to ignore that part of his mind that he and I share."  
  
Tamahome slowly nodded his head and looked into the direction of the swiftly rising sun. "Then let's go and give him a surprise. After all, he probably misses you dearly and will be so overwhelmed when he sees you again he just might die," Tamahome said with a chuckle that sounded rather cold to Amiboshi.  
  
What's wrong with me? Amiboshi asked himself, laughing lightly and shaking his head. Tamahome is my friend, even if he is a Suzaku Seishi. My mind has got to be playing tricks on me. He dismissed it as his mind misinterpreting the situation.  
  
During their journey they stopped ever four hours to replenish thier water supply and have a lite meal. By the time the sun had fully set and forced to camp, they were still twelve miles away from their destination.  
  
Amiboshi sighed as he fell against a nearby tree and slide down its trunk until he came to rest on the ground. "We are closer...I can definately sense that...But we still are pretty far away...If we start at dawn again tommrow, we should get there by mid morning...and that's just if we don't get lost or run across some rough terrain." Amiboshi closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose.  
  
"No...I'm sure we're closer than you think."  
  
Amiboshi looked up at Tamahome with a suprised and curious expression. "What do you mean? By the way it feel and looks right now it seems that..."  
  
Tamahome shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just relax. Here," he said, as he handed Amiboshi a mug of some warm tea that he had made from boiling water over the fire. "Drink this and get some sleep." He playfully ruffled Amiboshi's hair, and then moved to the other side of the fire and got his own bedding ready for a rather short night's sleep.  
  
Amiboshi looked down into the mug. Green tea...Looks good...It should help me too relax. Amiboshi tipped the mug to his lips and quickly swallowed its contents. He then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set the cup down next to him. Almost immediately he felt a wave of sleepiness rush over him and mere seconds later he was out cold, laying in deep, drugged sleep, his back against the tree.  
  
Tamahome listened to Amiboshi's breathing. Steady. He's definitely sleeping...and deep at that. I guess I needed need to drug him that much after all. Tamahome picked Amiboshi up and threw him over his shoulder. He had already picked up all of their stuff, which was on his back, so he set off towards Qu-Dong, following the stars by the brief breaks in the forest canopy.  
  
By early dawn they had reached the edge of the forest, and the edge of the territory of Qu-Dong Amiboshi was still drugged, only not as much so now. Tamahome leaned him up again a tree 50 feet or so into the woods and then sat next to him. His head lolled down to rest against his chest and he kept sleeping.  
  
Tamahome looked at Amiboshi's arm and remembered that a while back he had seen writing on it...Hmm...Didn't Amiboshi mention at one point that they were so close they could write messages back and forth to each other by etching them on their skin?...That just might work to our advantage. Tamahome picked up a nearby stick and etched (in ancient Chinese of course) "Meet me by the edge of the forest of Qu-Dong." That should work, though Tamahome. Of course, he'll probably realize something is up when he sees writing on his arm and his twin is dead...He'll either think he's going insane, or there's some half chance that Amiboshi is still alive...Plus, there's no reason for me to try and get into the palace at Qu-Dong and needlessly get myself killed if I can simply bring the prey out to me. Tamahome smiled to himself and threw the stick deep into the woods, hearing it hit a tree before it clattered to the forest floor.  
  
Less than an hour later Suboshi stood in the small clearing before the woods and looked in at it with a worried, yet hopeful glance. Tamahome saw his shadow pass over the trunks of the trees so he brougt himself to his feet and walked out into the small open field of grass. To one side of them was a river, to the back was forest and grass, and behind Suboshi, the town stood in the distance. Tamahome smiled at Suboshi'd reaction to seeing him. He stumbled backwards and almost fell over in surprise, but then he regained his former stance and just stared back at Tamahome, not knowing quite what to think.  
  
Meanwhile, Amiboshi was just coming out of his drugged sleep. He awoke to the sound of seemingly distant and blurred voices, but also to...It can't be...Suboshi is here? But...but how? Amiboshi shook his head to get rid of the fog that still had disappated yet inside his mind. He struggled to get to his feet, but the remnants of the drug atill coursed through his vains, so he settled for peeking behind his tree as his strength returned and mind cleared. All he could see were two people surrounded by the light of the rising sun. He knew one was Tamahome, so the other one had to be...Suboshi. He shook with happiness when he realized this was true, so when the sedative finally left his body he scrambled to his feet and out of the woods.  
  
Suboshi almost fell yet again when he finally made out the person who was running to him from the covering of the woods. He opened his arms to him and Amiboshi ran right into them, hugging his beloved twin tightly as he did the same back. They hadn't seen each other in so long, and had missed each other so much. Ever since Amiboshi had gone to fool the Suzaku Seishi that he was one of them, Suboshi had been depressed. Then when he had found out that his twin, the last of his family, had died at the hands of the enemy, he was thrown into a state of depression, greif and anger so deep that nothing had thrown him out of it until that very moment, when his twin was in his arms once again.  
  
Tears rushed to his eyes as did Amiboshi's. The only reason Amiboshi had even agreed to the job was to ensure that the summoning of Suzaku would so that Seiryu could be summoned first. That was why, in the end, when he realized that there was nothing left he could do, and that the two groups of seishi would end up killing each other over the summoning of their gods, he threw himself into the river to try to bring about peace. After all, there was nothing really left for him to live for. Miaka, Suzaku no Miko, whom he had accidentally fallen in love with, didn't love him back, the friends that he made with the Suzaku Seishi would probably be killed by the Seiryu and the only person he had left that actually loved him was Suboshi, and Amiboshi was the one who had to care for him. Suicide seemed like the only way out, the only way to solve these problems, but now he was happy to be in the arms of his twin again. He had felt empty without him, but not he felt whole again. He was with his other half.  
  
Suboshi's tears dampened Amiboshi's shirt and hair, but he didn't care, he was too overjoyed to be finally with his thought to be dead brother to care, except now, something didn't seem right. Amiboshi's grip on Suboshi started to loosen as Suboshi felt a sharp pain go through his back and into his heart. Startled, Suboshi lost his grip on Amiboshi as well and he slipped to the ground. Suboshi looked at his chest and saw that his shirt front has stained his blood, but it wasn't his own, he hadn't been hurt, which could only mean that...  
  
Suboshi looked down in horror to see both the front and back of Amiboshi's clothing soaked with blood, and ever-widening satin of crimson covered his outfit. Suboshi quickly dropped to his knees and pulled Amiboshi up into his arms.  
  
"Onii-chan...What...What...?"  
  
Amiboshi smiled as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He raised his hand and rested it against Suboshi's cheek. Suboshi caught it and held it there. "Little brother...I'm so...happy...that...I...I finally got...to...see you...again." He managed to say, straining to take in the ever-so-precious air. "Ai shiteru...little brother...Ai shiteru...Suboshi." Amiboshi looked into Suboshi's eyes with eyes full of pain, and yet happiness. Suboshi felt his twins chi weaken, and weaken, taking part of himself along with it. "Sayoonara," Amiboshi said with his last breath, looking lovingly into his brother's eyes still. Suboshi felt the last of his twin's chi leave his body as he closed his eyes and went limp.  
  
"No...," Suboshi started to say. "It can't be...You died twice on me Amiboshi...Twice..And now I feel more alone than I ever did before." Suboshi clutched his dead twin close to his chest and let out a sound that only a few have ever made before. I cry that echoed so loudly and so clear that all could hear it. It was of no words, but anyone who heard it could tell that it told of suffering and greif, of a loneliness that would now pleage the living of the two for as long as the lived.  
  
He looked up only to see Tamahome with a malicious half grin on his face, taking pleasure from the part of Suboshi that was now overflowing with the torment and greif of the second death of the very person he loved the most. Tamahome walked towards Suboshi, and not knowing how to react, Suboshi took a step backwards, almost tripping over Amiboshi's body.  
  
Then, to Suboshi's utter disbelief, Tamahome reached down and dipped his fingers into the blood on the back of Amiboshi'd cloak and flicked it into Suboshi's face.  
  
"Now you know how I feel, friend. You were right you know, revenge is sweet." Still smiling, Tamahome turned around and started to walk back towards the forest.  
  
Suboshi carefully, and painfully, slid the dagger out of his twin's back and laid his twin gently on the ground. He then stood up and shot the dagger with the most strength he could muster, through Tamahome's back, as he had done to Amiboshi.  
  
Tamahome staggered a couple of steps and then fell face first into the dirt. He coughed up some blood as he laid there, slowly dying, his blood pooling around him, staining the earth a crimson shade. Then he began to speak, a smile on his face.  
  
"You're forgetting dear friend. My family is dead...as well as yours...only you have to live each day...as I did...seeing the one you truly loved...die in front of you...over and over again...haunting your every thought...even present in your dreams...leaving you to wake up in a start with cold sweat dripping down your back, soaking your sheets...You will have to live the rest of your life as I did, only I only had to live with it for three months, you will have to live with it for years. Then again...you won't have to hear their torment screams in your ears, but you'll still have to live with the fact that his death was your fault..." Tamahome coughed and spit up more blood that stained the gras in front of his mouth. "Ah!...The pain! I must feel the same way they did when they died...Now I go to be reunited with my family once more, while you are left to weep over your only brother's bloody corpse. Oh the irony...So long friend...So long...But before I leave this world forever, I'll gibe you a lasting present to remember both me, and your darling brother by." With that he clutched a knife he had hidden in his cloak and threw it with his last bit of strength at Tamahome's cheek. But he didn't know that Miaka had watched the entire thing, and that it was that moment she had chosen to run to his side, only to be graced by his flying knife and falling to the ground in shock.  
  
And with that, Tamahome died, his body shuttering before it finally settled, the last of his blood surrounding him in a pool of crimson that was yet to be drunk by the ground he lay on.  
  
"TAMAHOME!!!" Miaka screamed, running to her lover's side. She lifted him up into her arms and gazed into his glazed over eyes. She couldn't believe it...he was dead. One of the people she had loved the most had died right in front of her. And there was nothing I could do..And now he's gone...He- he's dead...And there's nothing that can bring him back. "Tamahome!" she cried again, clutching Tamahome's limp form close to her chest, stroking his hair, her tears, like fallen stars glittering the tops of his head.  
  
Suboshi stared in shock at the scene that was playing in front of him. He couldn't believe it. His thought to be dead brother had been reunited with him and had died in his arms, in blind rage and agonizing grief he had killed Tamahome, and now Miaka appeared from behind the scenes, and she too was grieving over the one she had lost. But then, all of a sudden...she stopped. He no longer heard her sobs and watched as the last of her tears fell on to Tamahome's open lips. Suboshi watched as she brought down his eyelids with her had and layed his form on the gorund, looking at him longingly for one last time before she swiftly turned around to face Suboshi...Her lover's murderer.  
  
She glared at him with an anger, a burning hatred that lived deep down in her soul. Suboshi stared into eyes that were no longer sane. They seemed to almost glow a ferocious red. Like Tamahome, someting inside her had snapped, and there was nothing that could be done to bring normalcy back to her again. Suboshi, startled, stepped backwards, not knowing what to think. She then, in one swift movement, ripped the dagger out of Tamahome's back and hurled it at Suboshi's chest.  
  
It sliced through his breastbone like butter and then buried itself deep into the tissues of his heart. He gasped for air, clearly in shock, but nothing entered his lungs, the only thing he could do was cough, and even then that didn't bring out air, but blood. He grabbed the hilt of the inferior object in his chest and pulled, but he had no stength out, and all that came of his efforts was a hand covered in blood. He stumbled backwards for lose of blood, his hand still on the dagger hilt. The world before his eyes faded, and through long, agonizing blinks he watched Miaka come closer and closer, until she was right above him, then grabbing the dagger. She took it and twisted it while it was still in his chest. The last of Suboshi's blood pooled under him as his eyes rolled into the back f his head and his body became a limp, bloody mess, on the field before the forest.  
  
Miaka pulled the blood stained dagger out of Suboshi's chest and wiped it on the sleeve of her shirt. She then took the dagger and slid it into her belt. She walked into the forest, leaving the body of her lover and his murderer behind her. Now she would journey to Hong-nan, to make the Suzaku Seishi there feel the pain that she did. After all, now it would be almost impossible to summon Suzaku, so why not make who was left filled with as much pain and anger as she was?  
  
She ventured, more alone than ever, into the forest outside of Qu-Dong. She had been worried about Tamahome when she hadn't seen him since he had gone to see his family those three months ago. When she found out his family had been murdered, she thought he had died as well, but Chichiri said he could still sense his chi, so she knew otherwise. She had gone to Qu-dong to find him, figuring that Yui had probably tried to steal him from her again, but when she got there and sneaked in, she realized that he wasn't there. She had decided to walk back taking the short-cut through the forest she had used before...and that was when she had found the scene that she now left behind her.  
  
So Miaka walked onward towards Hong-nan, the place she had called home for the last three months, to make the friends she had grown to love there, feel the pain that she did now. Nothing else mattered to her anymore. She didn't give a shit about Hotohori and how Nuriko was in love with him. She didn't care how much pain that all of them had gone through in their past, all she cared about was making others feel the heart-wrenching pain that had taken over her soul, the only way to quiet the balze of anger that flurished there. I will make the others feel my pain...Feel my lose, Miaka thought as she slid her hand along the flat part of the blade. They will soon know what true heart-ache and pain feels like. And with that she put the dagger away and walked carefully through the rugged forest in front of her, onward towards her goals of murder. 


	2. Part 2: Thirst for Blood

Revenge by Blood  
  
*Disclaimer: I don't own FY...the manga, not the Anime..This story is based on actual events that happened, but are horribly twisted to become...well..You'll see. Not for those with weak stomachs...Oh, and another warning...You know how me and my sis Star Wolf said to never let us write a fanfic together?...Well, this is one of them! Rated NC-17 for violence. Enjoy! ;)*  
  
Part 2:  
  
She didn't catch a glimpse of Hong-nan through the forest until two days later. She hadn't stopped to eat or drink, but had kept walking. Her legs were covered with sores, her flesh torn open by the long wispy branches of low plants that had dared to get in her way. She crushed them under her feet after they brushed against her. Whatever got in her way those two days never lived to tell the tale. Her eyes had gone dark, almost blood red, tinged with both insanity and blood lust. She wanted the others to feel the pain she did, to feel the burning hatred that was slowly filling up the deep hole in her heart. They needed to feel her pain, to live, or rather die, with the feelings that her soul now carried.  
  
She pushed the last of the plants blocking her entrance to Hong-nan out of her way and stepped full into the blindling sunlight. She had walked amongst the cover of the canopy for the past two days, so the warm, cheery sun tore at her eyes, and she cursed at it for seeming so happy at a time where death and pain seemed to cloak her. Darkness. That's what she had on the inside, and what she wanted on the outside as well. Like Tamahome, that little string of sanity that remained in her mind had snapped, leaving her with the coldness of hate and the comfortingly gory thoughts of the mentally unstable.  
  
She smiled to herself as she entered the city surrounding the palace and slowly walked up the steps, still shielding her burning eyes from the immense amount of sunlight. The doors were flung open before she even reached the top as the rest of the worried seishi poured out to comfort her. Chichiri had lost Tamahome's chi and knew that something horrible had happened to Miaka's, so he made sure that everyone was there to comfort her in this time of sorrow.  
  
But they all stopped when they saw her, for the person who stood in front of them now looked nothing like the Miaka they knew, and felt nothing like her either. There was a long gash down her cheek and that same half of her face was covered in dried blood from the deep wound. There were other stains of blood on her clothes and dried blood covering her hands as well.  
  
"Miaka? What happened?" Hotohori asked, running over to comfort her against the warnings his subconscious screamed at him. He took her shoulders in his hands and looked down at her with loving warm eyes. His hands jumped off her shoulders and he couldn't help but take a step back at the icy glare they met and the coldness of the voice that the once loving, innocent little girl now held.  
  
"What ever do you mean? I'm perfectly fine Hotohori." Her voice chilled him and he couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine or he goosebumps that spread over his skin like a tsunami. Even her hands seemed cold as she patted his shoulder when she walked by. "Don't worry about me. Although, coould you do me a favor?"  
  
"O-of course," Hotohori said, turning to look at the ice demon that now possessed Miaka.  
  
"Meet me in my room in about twenty minutes. Oh, and Nuriko?" Her frigid eyes stared into one of her soon-to-be victim's. "Please, follow me." Nuriko nodded and followed Miaka down the main hall and off into some smaller ones that eventualy led to her room. In the process, Miaka slipped out her hidden boot-dagger and dipped it into the immobilization potion she had stolen from Nakago when she had visited Qu-Dong.  
  
Once in her room she sat down on her bed with a sigh and motioned Nuriko to sit beside her. "You know, Nuriko." Miaka said, trying to sound warm again, keeping the ice out of her voice. After all, if she sounded too cold her prey wouldn't fall into the trap she was about to spring.  
  
Nuriko looked at her and smiled. "What?"  
  
Miaka edged closer to Nuriko and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I wanted to tell you this before, but I just wasn't sure if I really felt this way. Now that Tamahome is gone though, I know for sure that this is how I truly feel." Miaka lifted one of her hands and caressed Nuriko's cheek, then guided his face towards hers. "I love you," she whisered, when their lips where a mere inch from touching.  
  
Before Nuriko could react, she closed the gap between them and their lips touched in a short, seemingly loving kiss...That is, until Miaka pulled out the dagger from her lap and jabbed it into Nuriko's stomach. His warm blood trickled over her fingers as the hilt of he poison tipped weapon met his skin. His cough and then sudden gasp for air made her retreat to where she had sat before. A little more blood on her hands didn't bother her. She was already covered in it and had started taking a liking to the color crimson anyways.  
  
Nuriko hunched over in pain and tried to pull the dagger out of his gut, only to realize that he couldn't move, and could barely breath. He could see, and hear, but his body betrayed him as it went limp and he hit the floor with a sigh as the rest of the air was pushed from his lungs by the impact.  
  
He heard Miaka's cold laughter and saw her feet and shins move towards him. He tried to scream as pain seared into his scalp and covered his head. The ground was moving farther away. Miaka was picking him up by his long braid. She dragged him onto the bed and then tied him to the head board, making sure that he could see the room in full. He tried asking her what she was doing, why she was hurting him like this, what had caused her to turn so violent, but his lips would not move and his voice box was frozen in place. It was an effort just to breath. He could blink, but he had a feeling that even that wasn't going to last very long.  
  
Fear raced through his body as he saw Miaka unsheath a small knife from a strip of leather wrapped around her upper arm. His eyes widened with horror, but all that did was cause Miaka to laugh even harder.  
  
"Oh, stop it you fool! I'm not going to kill you..yet...Now, how fun would that be. Just sit still...Wait...That's all you can do," Miaka grinned evilly to herself. "Anyways, close your eyes, that much you can do, and make sure not to open them. I'd hate to blind you. Then I couldn't have half as much fun as I want to." Nuriko closed his eyes, not sure what she was going to do, but when he left the small blade slice through the thin skin covering his eyes, he knew exactly what she was trying to do. First the left eye, and then the right, where opened, and none of them by his own doing.  
  
When he trie closing them, he realize that it was impossible. All it caused was more of the salty, red tinged liquid to encircle his eye and burn it's way through the outer membrane. Everything was stained crimson and he could do nothing to make it go away.  
  
"Aww," he heard Miaka say, when she sat in front of him and looked at his disappointedly. "Damn it...Even though you are forced to see, I bloodied your vision....Wait, I can change that!" She picke up a cup of water at her bedside table and threw it into his face. It soaked the front part of his hair, causing strands of purple to stick to the sides of his face, but it did wash out some of the blood as well. Miaka laughed in amusement as the crimson substance leaked out of his eyes. Nuriko was crying blood.  
  
Miaka jumped a couple of inches at the sudden knocks that echoed into her room. Smiling, she bounced off the bed and ran over to the door, flinging it open to find a some-what worried Hotohori.  
  
"Oh, Hotohori, I missed you so much!" she said with yet more false warmth as she flung herself into his arms. Hotohori blushed as he returned her embrace.  
  
"Miaka, Chichiri said that..."  
  
"Yes...Tamahome is dead...But that doesn't matter, because I still have you." Miaka slipped one of her hands down Hotohori's back and to his side. As he tightened his grip on her and closed his eyes to try to push back tears, Miaka seized his sword and tore herself out of his embrace. Even though she stood three feet away, that three feet was being taken up by an extremely deadly sword that's tip was resting on Hotohori's throat. "Fuck you, Hotohori! I never loved you, and would never be your wife!  
  
Nuriko felt tears well up in her eyes. No! She's going to kill him! That sadistic little bitch! She tied me up here so I was forced to watch the last person I love die at my feet...And me being unable to stop his murder! No! Hotohori-sama!!! Nuriko struggled to yell at Miaka to stop, but all that came out of his mouth was a cough.  
  
Hotohori looked at him and gasped. Blood stained tears still flowed down his cheeks, and more of the crimson liquid was slowly pouring out of his stomach and staining an ever-increasing area of his shirt. Nuriko realized that the only thing he COULD do know was cry, so that was what he did.  
  
Miaka pushed the tip of the blade into Hotohori's neck and watched as a small trickle of blood flowed down from the cut. "Well, Nuriko. If you want me to spare this bastard's life, speak now...Or do you want his death staining your hands...No, your soul, crimson forever." Miaka's eyes flickered quickly to Nuriko's and then to the sword.  
  
As much as he tried, all that Nuriko could make for sounds were soft groans and coughs. "Are you sure, Nuriko-chan? Speak now or forever hold your peace..." Miaka traced the blade down from his throat to his heart, leaving a light gash and a trail of blood behind it.  
  
Damn you, Miaka! You know I can't say anything! Damn you! The tears flowing down his cheeks increased even more-so as he saw the pleading look in Hotohori's eyes. Gomen nasai, Hotohori-sama...I'm so sorry...I've lost the last one I loved and promised I'd protect...Please, forgive me...  
  
"Aww...Too bad...Guess he doesn't care...Too bad, Hotohori...So long!" Miaka thrust the sword through Hotohori, right below his heart. All Nuriko could do was watch as the last person she loved slowly bled to the death on the floor in front of him. And it was all his fault.  
  
"G-goodbye, Nuriko," Hotohori said through pained breaths. "I don't know why you didn't speak, but...I'm sorry...I-if I did something that...Well, I guess I deserve this...G-goodbye..." With that, Hotohori took in his last breath. His body shuddered violently and his breath was let out in a rush as his spirit left his body and the rest of his blood pooled on the floor beneath him. Miaka quickly rushed over to the limp body and took out a vile she had hidden in her cloak. She quickly slit one of his wrists and let the blood drip into the vile while there was still some left in his body.  
  
Then she walked over to Nuriko, grinning madly, the vile of blood gripped tightly in her hand.  
  
"You must be thirsty after this little ordeal, and have lost a bit of your own blood as well. Here, take this. I'm sure it'll help." Miaka forced Nuriko's mouth open and shoved the vile inbetween his teeth, lrtting the still-warm liquid fill his mouth, and then trickle down his throat. As much as he tried, he coldn't spit it out, and before his lunch could move up his throat he lapsed into unconsciousness due to lack of blood.  
  
* * *  
  
When Nuriko's eyes focused again, he was in a pitch black room aside from the small strip of light that shone from apparently under the door to this dark world. No sooner had his sight returned, but his sense of smell as well, and this place reeked of blood. He tried to move, only to find that his still weak limbs where tied to a pillar to some kind and that a struggle to release himself would only prove to waste precious energy.  
  
A wave of fresh air and light brought his eyes to the opening that was before him, a dark silhouette of a young girl standing in the midst of it. "Well, I see you're finally awake. Good. Now, if you want to be released from his hell hole you'll drink all of what's in that pitcher before you." The figure tapped the picture in front of him with her foot. "You'll be able to move enough to drink it. It's all you have to eat or drink. I'll be checking on you every once in a while. Once it's empty, then I'll set you free."  
  
The figure seemed to snicker before they turned around and slammed the door behind her. Nuriko moved towards the pitcher and took a strong whiff of what the pitcher held.  
  
"Blood!" Nuriko breathed as he backed away from the pitcher. "No...It's...It's Hotohori's...It's Hotohori's blood...No..I-I can't..."  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Well, what do you think? Told you it was going to be bloody!!! Hope you enjoyed it! More will be out as soon as I have more free time! Oh, and I had to up the rating to R because NC-17 fanfics are no longer allowed, but I don't think it's that bad. *shrugs* Oh well, hope you liked it anyways!! 


	3. Part 3: Ocean of Grass

Revenge by Blood  
  
Disclaimer: I may not own Fushigi Yuugi but Star Wolf and I own the sadistic plot of this fanfic. Enjoy!  
  
Part 3:  
  
Nuriko sat there, in the near darkness, staring at the pitcher. He was trying to figure out what was worse, starving and dehydrating to death, or drinking Hotohori's blood.  
  
"Well, if I drink this, I'll always have his essence with me," he said to the pitcher.  
  
Nuriko gave up and reached towards the pitcher, his hand shaking. By the time he got it an inch off the ground he had to use his other hand to steady it or it was going to spill all over him instead.  
  
Nuriko made an audible gulp before raising the pitcher to his lips, a hopless effort to settle his stomach. He felt it lurch as the luke-warm liquid filled his mouth and he swallowed a mouth full of it. He would've thrown up, if he had had anything in his stomach, or the strength to actually do it.  
  
Ten minutes later he sat down the pitcher, and to his utter disgust, burped as he set it down. He didn't know what was worse, being hungry, or being so nauseous that ir felt as if all his internal organs had turned to mush. Well, there was no point in thinking about that now, he had already done it.  
  
Once he had sat down as far away from the empty pitcher as he could, the light under the door began to grow, and that silhoutte from days...was it days?...before openned the door. He could sense the malicious smile on it's face.  
  
"Aww, you're such a good boy, Nuriko. I see you finally came to your senses. And now I guess I have to keep my promise," said the figure as it reached behind it's back for something. "I have to set you free."  
  
Nuriko knew that the long, thin silhoutte he saw now was none other than a sword, and it appeared to be Hotohori's at that. Nuriko faced her, his eyes open, accepting his death, as the blade met his neck, severing his head from his body, and cutting his braid at its base.  
  
Miaka sadistic laugh carried thoughout the halls of Hong-nan once again, and the remaining seishi gripped their hearts. They had just lost another one. Chichiri and Tasuki looked at each other at the same time, they had a sickening feeling that they were next.  
  
* * *  
  
Miaka slung the sword over her shoulder and was actually singing as she walked down the corridors of the palace of Hong-nan.  
  
"Chichiri," she sang their names as well. "Tasuki, come here, I need you to do something for me."  
  
Hesitantly, both of them approached the doorway that led to the hall where Miaka was waiting for them. She was just sheathing the sword when they came into sight.  
  
"Ah, there you are! Oh, and I almost forgot, bring Chiriko too, I need his help with something."  
  
Being closer to the room they just left, Chichiri stuck his head in through the doorway and glanced at Chiriko. He sighed, worriedly, as he got up to join the two seishi waiting in the hall.  
  
Miaka had started walking down the hallway towards the side entrance, completely ignoring the shrine to Suzaku they passed out their way out, the three seishi stopping to at least bow before they rushed to catch up with Miaka.  
  
"Come on, Chiriko!" she called behind her as the turned her head a bit to see the three, I want you up here with me. She held out her hand for him to grasp, the other staying awfully close to her belt. Tasuki and Chichiri glannced at each other from the corners of their eyes. Something was definately wrong.  
  
She stopped as the path broke into a small field next to a rushing river. The shin high grass bending slightly to the breeze and reflecting the sunlight as it did so, gave the plain the appearance of an ocean, the wild flowers like the small sprays the waves gave off. It was so quite, so serene, the light sound of the rushing water, the quite, yet harmonic bird song. Miaka smiled. It was the perfect place.  
  
With a quick flick of her wrist the dagger came free from her belt and with just a little added speed stopped at Chiriko's throat. Miaka ginned at Chichiri and Tasuki as they gave worried looks to Chiriko.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, he'll be fine," said Miaka, still grinning. "As long as one of you dies."  
  
Tasuki and Chichiri looked at each other, and then Miaka, their puzzlement clearly written on their faces.  
  
"Don't you get it, you idiots, I want you to fight to the death, and one step closer," she edge the blade until it was against Chiriko's neck. "And this little one will die instead of one of you...So, take your pick. Who do you want to die?" Miaka looked at them with a questioning look, while they looked at each other.  
  
Tasuki sighed, moved to the side a bit and took up a fighting stance, his hand resting on his tessen. Chichiri did the same, but held his staff in front of him instead. Miaka smiled, she couldn't wait, tha anticipation was eating her alive and was helping to feed her recent spell of insanity.  
  
Tasuki made the first move, he ripped his tessen out of its sheath and commanded its fire at Chichiri. Chichiri blocked it with a simple spell, the fire contoring to the bubble that had formed around him, not even searing one hair of his sky blue mohawk bangs.  
  
Seeing the problem with this, Tasuki decided to make this more of a physical fight and lunged at Chichiri, ready to hit him over the head with the metal fan he commanded, but was met halfways with the butt of Chichiri's staff and was pushed backwards toward the water's edge. Tasuki barely gained his footing in time, looking behind him to see his heels resting on the edge of the plain, and the water rushing swiftly and ferociously below him.  
  
He had barely enough time to utter "Rekka Shin'en!" before a blur of blue and white approached him and he nearly missed parrying Chichiri's staff with his tessen. But Chichiri was quicker and sent a small ball of energy at Tasuki's solar plexus, causing him to loose his balance, as well as his breath, and topple backwards. He staggered, trying to steady himself, but he made the mistake of stepping backwards in the process. Backwards into air, and not grass. He mumbled a curse as he felt himself fall backwards and the flesh colored blur just missed him as the icey waters stole what was left of his breath away.  
  
Tasuki managed to float long enough above water to take a glance at the fighting grounds, and not seeing Chichiri, he let out a sob, thinking that he had killed him. I Tasuki thought right before his head hit a rock and he lost all consciouness, pulled under the surface by the strong undertow of the river. He couldn't feel the water as it slowly filled his lungs with each breath he took. Or feel his heart as it slowly stopped. And then his soul went to join the others, Chichiri's not far behind.  
  
Chichiri had tried desperately to grab Tasuki as his friend slipped out of reach, but he had tripped and then fell, his fingers just barely missing Tasuki's jacket. Chichiri's face hit the ground and there was an audible "thump" as his body slammed into the ground as well. Chichiri thought as he ripped his mask off and flung it to the side, climbed to his feet, and dove towards the plain's edge. By the time he looked down into the white waters of the river below, Tasuki was gone, carried along down river by the under current. he thought, dropping his head in defeat and shame. "Tasuki..." he mumbled. Chiriko heard his whisper and tears welled up in his eyes.  
  
Miaka looked at Chichiri with pity, the same pity of a driver who knows that the only way to help a dog fatally injured by a car is to hit it again, to put it out of its misery. She reached down and fumbled around in her boot for a bit until her hand came out holding a small, six inch long, sheathed dagger.  
  
"Here," she said, flinging it at Chichiri, the dagger stopping a few inches from his feet. "If you want, you can slit your wrists. It's not like you're going to live long, anyway."  
  
Chichiri wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at Miaka with a new hatred burning in his eyes. He picked up the dagger, flung it's sheath aside, and charged at Miaka.  
  
She merely looked at him and smiled. When he was readying himself to lunge at her, she took the opportunity to prepare for his attack. She already knew what his moves were going to be. He was just about near enough to slice into her neck when she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him. In the same instant she removed the dagger from Chiriko's neck and thrust it into Chichiri's good eye. When Chichiri went to clutch at the new deformity in his face, Miaka dropped the dagger and pulled out Hotohori's sword. Before Chichiri could react the sharp metal, already tinged with the blood of his fellow seishi, was piercing his body and penetrating the other side.  
  
Miaka grinned as the blood trickled down the sword and over her already bloddied hands. She twisted the sword, causing the blood to spurt out of the wound as well as flow down the once glistening metal. She reveled in the feeling of the warm blood flowing over her hands and then pulled the sword out. After all, what was the purpose now? He was nearly dead.  
  
Chichiri fell face first onto the ground, grasping the open wound that was his stomach. Then his arm suddenly went limp and his blood began to cover the ground beneath him, turning the once sea-green grass a dark shade of crimson. Before he was completely dead, Miaka bent down, pushed Chichiri's scarlet bangs out of the way, and then gently kissed him on the cheek.  
  
"Sayoonara," she whsipered in his ear. "Ah, he wasn't that bad," she said as she kicked him in the stomach. "What a waste, oh well."  
  
Chiriko stared at the whole scene in shock and his knees started trembling. "Come on," Miaka said as she grabbed him by the pony tail and pulled him towards the palace. Miaka grabbed Chiroko's hand with one of her bloody own, then bent down to pick up the dagger she had given Chichiri, as well as the one she had threatened Chiriko with. "We have work to do." Chiriko's eyes went blank and he paled.  
  
Her grin broadened as she walked back towards the palace, wiping her hands on her already blood soaked shirt. "Mitsukake! I need your hand!"  
  
*** 


End file.
